Retrieval Failure Flashcards
What is retrieval failure?
when information is taken into memory, associated cues are stored at the same time. if those cues are not available at the time of recall, retrieval failure can occur.
What is Tulving’s Encoding Specificity Principle?
It states that if a cue is to be helpful to retrieval, it has to be present at encoding and present at retrieval.
What are meaningful cues?
some cues are encoded at the time of learning in a meaningful way, eg mnemonics.
What are the two types of non-meaningful cues?
context-dependant cues and state-dependant cues
What are context-dependant cues?
Recall depends on external cue eg place/weather.
What research has been done on context-dependant cues?
Godden and Baddeley 1976
- learn on land/recall on land
- learn on land/recall underwater
- learn underwater/recall underwater
- learn underwater/recall on land
accurate recall was 40% lower in mismatched conditions.
What are state-dependant cues?
recall depends on internal cue eg feel upset/being drunk/feeling happy.
What research has been done on state-dependant cues?
Carter and Cassaday 1998
- learn on drug/recall on drug
- learn on drug/recall not on drug
- learn not on drug/recall not on drug
- learn not on drug/recall on drug
significantly worse recall in mismatched conditions.
Why might research into non-meaningful lack ecological validity?
Research evidence involves contexts and states which are extremely different eg land vs underwater, drowsy vs alert. In real life, the context may not be that different eg it may be that we learn info in one room, and have to recall it in another as a student.
How did Godden and Baddeley recreate their underwater experiment in 1980?
Instead of asking participants to recall the list of words, they had to say if they recognised a word read to them in a list. Performance was the same in all four conditions.
What was Tulving’s evidence for his encoding specificity principle?
If information is recalled, it must have been successfully encoded. Therefore, according to Tulving, if recall takes place, this in itself is evidence that encoding took place.
